High-speed chase attorney in Aiken, SC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 8, 2026

City of Aiken Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department Announces Breyer Horse Day at the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame & Museum

The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation and Tourism, in partnership with Pitter Patter Children’s Boutique, Equine Rescue of Aiken and the Aiken Volunteer Mounted Unit are excited to invite families to a magical morning at the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame & Museum for Breyer Horse Day! The event takes place on Saturday, October 24, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and is free for children ages 4–16 (with a parent).

Beloved around the world, Breyer® model horses begin as original artist sculptures and are brought to life by the hands of nearly 20 skilled artisans. Each one is airbrushed, hand-painted, and detailed with care, a tradition that has continued for more than 50 years. No two Breyer models are ever exactly alike, making them treasured keepsakes for horse lovers of all ages.

On Breyer Horse Day, children will enjoy the rare chance to create their very own Breyer Stablemate model horse. All painting supplies are free to participants while materials last, giving every young artist the opportunity to craft a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The fun continues with Breyer door prizes, free coloring books, and more.

Adding to the excitement, guests will enjoy special visits from the Aiken Volunteer Mounted Unit and Equine Rescue of Aiken’s Ambassador Whistle and mascot Sugar Belle.

If your business or organization is interested in supporting this program through sponsorship or volunteer opportunities, please visit cityofaikensc.gov/sponsorship/.

ADA message: The City of Aiken Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism invites people of all ability levels to enjoy programs, parks, and facilities. Individuals needing special assistance to participate should notify PRT Administrative Office 48 hours in advance.

For more information, call call 803-642-7600, option 3, 803-643-2121, e-mail halloffame@cityofaikensc.gov or visit the Hall of Fame website at aikenracinghalloffame.com.

8 October 2026 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Wonderland of Handmade Gifts Awaits at the 56th Annual Christmas Craft Show

Aiken, SC – The City of Aiken Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department will host the 56th Annual Christmas Craft Show Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5, from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM at the Odell Weeks Activities Center. This indoor/outdoor show features exhibitors from all over the Southeast with items handmade by crafters that are guaranteed to set your gift-giving apart. Make this your first stop for holiday gifts! Admission is free. Please note, no pets are allowed inside the building.

This year, we’re excited to spotlight some local young entrepreneurs, who will showcase their creative talents and unique products on Saturday ONLY. It’s a wonderful opportunity to support the next generation of innovators and artisans!

We will have something for everyone on your list and some delicious goodies, too. Vendors have been busy creating wood furniture, paintings, jewelry, holiday ornaments, clothing, ceramics, needlepoint creations, pottery, door hangers, and many other unique items just for you. We will also have local food vendors on-site.

The Odell Weeks Activities Center is located at 1700 Whiskey Road, Aiken, SC. The facility will close at 5:00 PM on December 4, but the playground, fitness room, and outdoor amenities will still be available during the show.

We would like to thank Comcast for their generous sponsorship of this year’s Christmas Craft Show. Their support helps make this community tradition possible.

The City of Aiken Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism invites people of all ability levels to enjoy programs, parks, and facilities. Individuals needing special assistance to participate should notify PRT Administrative Office 48 hours in advance.

For more information, 803-642-7600 and press 3. Stay up to date by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@aikenparksrec) or by downloading the Aiken Explorer app.

AIKEN, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Aiken Public Safety and the Cumbee Center are implementing a new approach to connect domestic violence victims with help.

Instead of handing victims resource information, officers now use a question-based screening to identify victims at high risk of homicide and connect them directly with an advocacy center.

Aiken is the third jurisdiction in South Carolina to adopt the program, called the Lethality Assessment Program.

A frequent call for officers

Cumbee Center victim advocate Adina Craig said her job is centered on the safety of domestic violence victims.

“It makes you feel purposeful. You know that you’re fulfilling a purpose,” Craig said.

Aiken Public Safety Captain Jeremy Hembree said his department responds to these calls often.

“We’ve been to numerous of these calls weekly and daily,” Hembree said.

According to the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office, the department received around 1,639 domestic calls in 2025. So far this year, that number is 1,174.

How the program works

The Lethality Assessment Program is a new approach to help high-risk victims of domestic violence.

Charity Collier, program director of systems advocacy for the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, said South Carolina has consistently ranked in the top 10 states in the nation for domestic violence and men killing women.

The Lethality Assessment Program is an effort to lower that number by making it easier for law enforcement to identify warning signs and for victims to get help.

“I think a lot of people think that physical violence is the precursor, and actually it is coercive control, and stalking is that slow death,” Collier said. “A domestic violence agency is so much more than just a shelter. They are resources. They are counseling. They have case managers who can help, advocates that can help you get an order of protection.”

When officers arrive on a domestic call, they see the immediate danger, but Hembree said they sometimes hit a wall. The victim may be too scared or embarrassed to talk to them, or officers may not have resources on hand.

Advocates have those resources, but Craig said sometimes victims are unaware of their resources beyond shelter. The Lethality Assessment Program connects the two, allowing officers to refer victims to advocates who can provide help beyond a place to stay.

“Not one sole agency can do this work,” Collier said.

Screening questions identify risk

Under the program, law enforcement can ask victims a series of questions to determine their risk level and identify immediate needs. Officers can then contact an advocacy center at any time.

“This gives us the ability to do it instantaneously,” Hembree said. “Once we answer those sets of questions, we can realize from there, hey, this person is in danger of potentially losing their life.”

The screening also helps advocates know how to work with a victim when they first make contact.

“It kind of helps with the way that I’m going to answer the phone when that client or victim is on the phone with me,” Craig said.

Craig said she hopes the program will help change the state’s ranking in domestic violence deaths.

“I want to be one of the reasons that number, that we’re out of that top 10, that we’re on the lower end, that we’re working together with every resource available in our state to make sure that these people are safe and that homicides are not something that happens so often that it’s almost expected in a way,” Craig said.

More information on the program and resources for victims of domestic violence can be found here.

AIKEN — Christian Carlisle, hoping to create a restaurant in the midcentury modern building that once housed an Aiken County medical center and then the Aiken County Council chambers, gave a tour of the building Oct. 6 to the City of Aiken’s Design Review Board.

“Our main purpose for today's site visit is to establish that you know what we're doing and make sure that we're staying within the boundaries in order to achieve everybody's goals,” Carlisle told the group.

He cautioned them to be careful and watch their step. Vacant since 2012, the building at 120 Morgan St. N.W. on the corner of Richland Avenue has been vandalized and stripped of copper, including exterior flashing.

Carlisle said the brick outbuilding that once contained the county morgue has been decorated on the inside with “some very clever graffiti.”

Inside the 6,272-square-foot building, which Carlisle said was constructed in 1957, broken glass was strewn across the carpets and terrazzo flooring, which is a mottled black and gray composite of stone and epoxy.

“The floor underneath the carpet, it's going to take some work, but we should be able to restore it throughout the entire project,” Carlisle said.

The north wing of the building, where the Aiken County Council chambers were located, would become a private event space seating 46. A serving kitchen, an office, restrooms and storage for tables and chairs would be added.

The central section of the building would contain offices, a hostess station, waiting area and restrooms.

The eastern wing would contain a mechanical room, staff bathroom and dishwashing room on the southern side of its central hallway. Offices along the north side of the wing would be removed to make space for the kitchen and walk-in cooler.

The southern wing of the building, fronted by Richland Avenue and containing a wedge-shaped auditorium with an 18-foot ceiling, would be the restaurant’s dining room, with seating for 52. Outside its eastern wall would be a courtyard with additional seating for 14.

The building’s main entrance faces Richland Avenue, but the parking lot is on the opposite side of the building, so Carlisle is proposing adding an entrance tucked into the northeast corner of the building, formed by the northern and eastern wings.

“If people are parking in the back and it's a rainy day, we don't want them walking all the way up there to Richland Avenue, so we'd like to have an entrance here,” he said.

Doing so would require removal of one of the enameled steel panels that are a signature motif of the redbrick building, adorning it with pastel highlights of green, yellow and blue.

“The panels are really what set this building apart,” Ben Lott, chair of the Design Review Board, told Carlisle. “Do what you need to do, and try to keep that aspect of the building alive as best you can.”

Carlisle said he’s incorporating the exact colors of the panels into the restaurant’s logo “so that we can tie it in and accentuate what it is.”

“Hopefully, we can amp it up to make it really sharp and new,” he said. “Update without changing, that's the goal.”

“I think what's important is trying to keep the exterior as authentic as possible,” said board member Lucy Knowles. “That's what's important to me.”

“We’re hoping to accentuate what it is, not change it,” Carlisle said. “I would say just about all of our proposed changes are interior. Very few things will be will be changed on the exterior.”

He said the northeast quadrant, bordered by the parking lot entered from Morgan Street, will remain a grassy lawn.

“This will be overflow for the meeting room, and also our entrance from the parking lot will come through here,” Carlisle said.

The City of Aiken Board of Zoning Appeals granted an exception Sept. 22 that would allow the building to be used as a restaurant. The project must also be approved by the Design Review Board, the City of Aiken Planning Commission, and the Aiken City Council.

AIKEN, SC, October 07, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Woron and Dhillon, LLC is calling attention to a rise in traffic deaths in Aiken County this year. The local increase runs opposite to the statewide trend.

Preliminary South Carolina Department of Public Safety figures show 23 traffic deaths in Aiken County from Jan. 1 through Oct. 4, compared with 17 during the same period in 2025. Statewide, deaths fell from 729 to 667 over the same stretch. Fatal crashes are only part of the picture. Many more collisions leave drivers and passengers with injuries, medical bills, and time away from work. A car accident lawyer in Aiken, SC can explain how South Carolina law applies to any subsequent claims and the deadlines that apply.

What to Keep in Mind After a Crash

1. At the scene: Drivers in an injury crash must stop, share their name, address, and registration number, and give reasonable aid under S.C. Code §§ 56-5-1210 and 56-5-1230. 2. Medical care: Prompt treatment creates a record that ties injuries to the collision. 3. Insurance calls: Statements given to the other driver's insurer can later be used to argue shared fault. 4. Deadlines: Under S.C. Code § 15-3-530, most injury claims must be filed within three years. For a wrongful death claim, that period begins on the date of death.

How Fault Is Divided in 2026

South Carolina follows a modified comparative negligence rule. An injured person can recover damages if their share of fault does not exceed the combined fault of the defendants. Any award is reduced by that percentage. For claims arising after Jan. 1, 2026, Act 42 also allows juries to assign fault to people or businesses not named in the lawsuit. Identifying every responsible party early is now more important.

"When several drivers or companies share responsibility for a crash, the new rules can change how much an injured person is able to collect," said Brett Woron, an attorney with Woron and Dhillon, LLC. "We work to identify everyone involved, including employers and vehicle owners, from the start of a case."

About Woron and Dhillon, LLC:

Woron and Dhillon, LLC is a personal injury firm serving clients across South Carolina from offices in North Augusta, Columbia, and Charleston. Its attorneys have more than 30 years of combined experience and have handled thousands of cases. Brett Woron, a 2010 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, has practiced since 2011. He was selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars from 2019 through 2023. Amar S. Dhillon has practiced law since 1999, with an emphasis on motor vehicle crash cases. The firm handles car accident claims along with truck accident, drunk driving, and other personal injury matters in Aiken County. Attorneys can meet clients at home or in the hospital. Consultations can be requested online.

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Brett Woron

Woron and Dhillon

Aiken, South Carolina

United States

Telephone: (803) 676-1900